About | Biden School Journal

ABOUT

Biden School Journal of Public Policy – JPP (formerly New Visions for Public Affairs) is an annual student-produced peer-review publication of the University of Delaware’s Biden School of Public Policy and Administration (Biden School). Founded in 2008, the journal publishes a scholarly peer-review journal comprised of student academic writing on topics related to public policy and public administration. The Biden School Journal is managed by a student editorial board that is advised by a Faculty Advisory Board.

This student-run journal showcases research and writing related to public policy and administration, but not limited to, scholarly research essays, literature reviews, and special interviews. Preference is given to works that take new approaches in their discussion of current policies and future alternatives.

Every year the Journal also holds a research symposium where authors whose submissions are published in the journal are invited to share their research findings with peers and faculty.

Vision Statement

To inform and inspire policymakers and practitioners through a rigorous peer-review academic forum that advances scholarship, challenges traditional ideas, considers both theory and practice, and takes an interdisciplinary approach to public policy and administration.

Mission Statement

The Biden School JPP seeks to provide an interdisciplinary forum to showcase new alternatives and visions for public policy by challenging traditional approaches and advancing innovative scholarship. The Biden School JPP also serves to expose student authors to the peer-review process of academic publishing and student editors to the editorial process, while providing all students with the chance to participate in an enriching local, national and international community of scholars.

Biden School JPP – Volume 12

Consequences and dangers of gerrymandering: An ongoing threat to voter equality and fairness by Ellen Schenk

Abstract

Despite the many movements and organizations dedicated its various forms remain a current issue in elections. While gerrymandering has been an issue consistently brought before the Supreme Court, there has been no established measure to identify a gerrymandered district. There is a broad scope of literature surrounding suggested measures, such as the curve. Gerrymandering presents a clear and present threat to the equality of elections due to the lack of competition and an unfair process of redistricting. Reforms such as guidelines for commissions and the 2020 census need to be undertaken to ensure a fair and just reapportionment process.

What is the ‘Energy Efficiency Gap’? Analyzing market failures to energy efficiency by Pravesh Raghoo

Abstract

Energy Efficiency is key to establishing a sustainable and clean environment for present and future generations. Without initiative to develop energy efficiency, there are doubts that the path towards greater sustainability can ever be achieved. The literature on energy efficiency has long demonstrated the presence and persistence of an ‘energy efficiency gap’. This paper examines the nature and size of this gap, identifies vital explanatory factors and explored approach by which to bridge the gap between potential and actual improvements in energy efficiency for sustainable development.

Beyond Keifer Sutherland’s Designated Survivor, Recovering Washington, D.C.: An Examination of the District of Columbia’s Recovery Plan by Zachary Cox

Abstract

The popular imagination, as exhibited by the television show Designated Survivor, constructs disaster recovery as a process performed by omnipotent government agents who guide action in ways that are comprehensive, fair, and efficient. However, as the National Disaster Recovery Plan and the District of Columbia Recovery Plan demonstrate, there is little understanding of the processes required to recover from a disaster. This paper examines the Plan for the District of Columbia’s Economic Recovery from disaster and proposes recommendations that could more easily streamline the planning and recovery of disaster in Washington, DC.

Battery Energy Storage Systems for Transmission & Distribution Upgrade Deferral: Opportunities, Challenges and Feasibility in the US Electricity Sector by Sashwat Roy

Abstract

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are emerging technologies which are opening new opportunities that improve and reduce the costs of electricity. However, exactly where the storage is deployed (generation, transmission or customer) on the electricity system can have an immense impact on the value created by BESS technologies. In this study, we highlight the value created by BESS when installed downstream from a nearly overloaded node at the distribution level by deferring investment in capital-intensive feeder upgrades. The study also examines regulatory policy initiatives in “storage as a transmission asset” and provides recommendations based on the understanding of the regulatory treatment of energy storage to ensure increased deployment of these systems as transmission assets.

Effective disasters: 2013 European flood damage as a policy driver by Logan Gerber-Chavez

Abstract

Disasters are the most tangible representation of climate change in our time. For policymakers, the easiest way to engage their constituents on new public policy is to relate it to a specific need. Natural disasters are an easily visible reference to remind people of a very pressing need for new disaster policy. Are frequent references to disasters then a motivation for policy change? If yes, do policy changes coincide with the degree of disaster damage? To compare policy responses to disasters it requires holding the magnitude of a disaster as a constant so as to compare the difference in policy action in relation to the same disaster. This assessment compares policy responses by nine (9) European countries (including; Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia) affected by the 2013 flood of the Danube, Elbe, and Rhine rivers. Life years are implemented to compare the disaster impacts across multiple situations (Noy, 2015). The expectation was that the country most impacted would have the most incentive and therefore apply the most elaborate disaster policy in response.

EARLIER VOLUMES